The state Department of Health has cited Carlisle Regional Medical Center for not providing prompt service in the Emergency Room.

The citation came weeks after department officials blamed two deaths on a nursing shortage at the hospital.

According to a Health Department report, Carlisle Regional violated its own 20 minute policy on emergency room wait times.

The report looked at ten complaints filed in January, in which patients said they waited up to an hour before any emergency room staff even spoke to them.

The Health Department policy on what is appropriate standard of care is vague. The policy states that “hospital and medical staff are responsible for insuring that emergency patient care meets the general standards of care which prevail in other areas of the hospital.”

Officials said Carlisle did not live up to the standard, and said some of the patients who complained had “very serious” conditions.

Dr. Lewis Shaw of PinnacleHealth System, which is not associated with Carlisle Regional, said an hour wait time to be triaged is long, but he said people need to speak up.

“The patient needs to be proactive and to remind the staff that they are here and need to be seen,” Shaw said.

Carlisle Regional CEO John Kristol has disputed claims that understaffing and excessive wait times contributed to the two patient deaths. Hospital administrators did not comment on the citation.